Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Fighter pull-ups ... Fighter push-ups

Another passable 6.5 hrs nights sleep. Weighed 177 3/4 lbs, nice to be going south again. However, my left quad is still very sore so I iced it. Tomorrow if its the same I will treat with Ibubrofen.

Joint Mobility:
Z-Health R-Phase

I did some light KB warm-up before launching into my pull-ups

Warmup:
16kg 1 x 10/10 Halos
24kg 1 x 10/10 Slingshot

Russian 3RM Fighter Pull-up Plan
Day 4: (Day 10 of plan) 4,4,3,2,1 with 2 mins rest between rungs

Once again even with the warm-up, my 1st set of 4 was tough. The second set of 4 was so much easier and explosive that I actually reset and used this 2nd set as my 1st set and completed the remaining 4 sets with ease. So now I learned I need a warm-up set to get the pull-up musculature primed. After completing these I did 3 isometric singles where I held for 5 seconds half way up and then another 5 seconds half way down. Again these were very strong.

The sore quad is worse so I didn't wait until tomorrow and finally took 4 Ibuprofen. I searched the DD for words of wisdom concerning quad issues and got what I expected R.I.C.E. So R.I.C.E. it is.

So until the foreseeable future I will be doing upper-body BW work:

BW 4 x 8 Fireman "Push-ups" .. yes thats correct and not a typo

Under the direction of Steve Freides, RKC II, Howie of "Howz Training" started doing these to improve shoulder placement. I was unable to find any google reference to Fighter Push-ups so these may be Steve's own creation.

Howie was kind enough to share the mechanics of these with me. For the benefit of others, they are performed by assuming a plank position with hands closer together so that the elbows are right under the armpits. The hands should be a little back towards the legs so that the shoulders are a little in front and not over the hands. Perform a push-up in this position but at the top position, round the shoulders and back to form a hollow position. This is similar to the hollowing of the back and shoulders at the top of a Russian Fighter pull-up.

I did get my busted lower molar repaired today. Fortunately, it was patch-able and I can hold off on a root canal and crown for while.

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Diet and Nutrition Log

Breakfast:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, and Green Gram Curry
2 cups of coffee with tbs of 1/2 and 1/2
2 dates

Morning Snack:
1 Whey protein shake with 6 oz of Kefir

Lunch:
1 bowl of Kitchari with sweet potato, Gujarati beans, and Green Gram Curry
4 oz Kefir
1 large naval orange

Afternoon snack:
1 chocolate biscotti
1 walnut cookie
2 sesame crackers
1 small handful of roasted almonds

Dinner:
1 large bowl of Gujarati beans with brown rice.
1 piece of wild blueberry pie
2 scoops of ice cream

3 comments:

Martin Schap said...

Push-ups are a major milestone, yes? From looking back in your log this is the first pushing in quite a while isn't it? Congrats. That is a great step.

Franklin said...

Martin,

First of all, your encouragement is greatly appreciated.

I would have never entertained any BW work if I hadn't built up some strength with KBs .. I was especially adverse to pull-ups as I could never do anymore than one or two.

My focus on push-ups is relatively new as a way to complement my pull-ups.

The usual complementary push exercise associated with pull-ups is the military press as discussed in ETK (actually the emphasis is on the opposite). MPs or grinds are just too tough on my left shoulder and elbows so push-ups are a nice low weight compromise push. The Steve Friede's Fighter Push-ups reduce the push-up volume and work my funky shoulders very nicely .. they have both felt good lately.

Anonymous said...

I'm not a fighter, I don't like exercising